MISSOURi VALLEY FOOTBALL CONFERENCE | Saturday’s games

North Dakota State 59, South Dakota 14

VERMILLION, S.D.

Easton Stick threw three touchdown passes, becoming North Dakota State’s all-time leader in scoring tosses, and ran for two more scores as top-ranked North Dakota State breezed past over South Dakota. Stick finished with 176 yards on 12-of-19 passing. He threw for 161 yards and all three of his TDs in the first half. Stick’s record-breaking 73rd TD toss was a 6-yarder to Ben Ellefson with 36 seconds remaining in the second quarter and put the Bison (8-0, 4-0) up 35-7 at halftime. Ellefson’s only other catch was a 15-yard hookup with Stick in the opening quarter for the game’s first score. Stick added 79 yards rushing on seven carries and scored on a 2-yard run in the first quarter and a 47-yarder in the third quarter. The victory pushed NDSU’s fifth-year coach Chris Klieman past Ron Erhardt and into third place on the school’s all-time victory list with his 62nd win. He’s lost just six games over that span. The Bison, who sit atop the FCS coaches’ poll, have won 14 straight games, the longest active streak among FCS teams. Austin Simmons passed for 152 yards and led the Coyotes (3-5, 2-3) with 115 yards rushing on 11 carries that included a 62-yard TD run. Jabril Cox had five tackles, a sack and an interception — all in the first quarter — to help the Bison take a 21-0 lead.

Western Illinois 37, Northern Iowa 17

MACOMB, ILL.

Sean McGuire threw for two touchdowns, both to Isaiah LeSure, and Western Illinois beat Northern Iowa. McGuire had 300 yards passing for the Leathernecks (4-4, 3-2 Missouri Valley Football Conference). LeSure finished with 164 yards receiving. Max Norris had two rushing touchdowns and Steve McShane ran for a score. Norris ran for his first touchdown from the 1 early in the second quarter to give Western Illinois a 7-3 lead. The Panthers (4-4, 3-2) went ahead on an Eli Dunne scoring pass to Marcus Weymiller, but McGuire put the Leathernecks back on top with a 69-yard touchdown throw to LeSure to make it 14-10 with 11:41 left in the half. Later, linebacker Pete Swenson sacked Dunne in the Panthers end zone for a Leathernecks safety and they led 16-10 at halftime. Northern Iowa struggled throughout the second half as the Leathernecks scored three more touchdowns, including McShane’s short rushing score for a 37-10 advantage with 5:59 left. Dunne finished with 218 yards and a score passing for the Panthers.

Southern Illinois 49, Missouri State 35

SPRINGFIELD, MO.

Michael Elbert’s 55-yard interception return for a touchdown gave Southern Illinois a three-score lead in the third quarter and the Salukis held on to beat Missouri State. Matt DeSomer’s 30-yard TD pass to Landon Lenoir gave Southern Illinois (2-6, 1-4 Missouri Valley Football Conference) its first lead of the game at 28-21 on the first drive of the third quarter. D.J. Davis followed with 14-yard TD run with 8:28 left in the period and Elbert’s pick-6 less than a minute later made it 42-21. Missouri State (4-4, 2-3) cut the deficit to 42-28 early in the fourth quarter on Peyton Huslig’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Currie. Jonathan Mixon scored on a 5-yard run to push the lead back to 49-28 and Huslig’s fourth TD pass of the game capped the scoring with three minutes left. DeSomer passed for 206 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions and ran for 92 yards. Huslig finished with 404 yards passing — the third time in Missouri State history someone has passed for more than 400 yards.

South Dakota State 38, Illinois State 28

NORMAL, ILL.

Taryn Christion passed for 292 yards and three touchdowns and Mikey Daniel scored two rushing touchdowns to help South Dakota State beat Illinois State. Christion was 18-of-28 passing with one interception and moved into first on South Dakota State’s career completions list with 740. Daniel finished with 84 yards rushing on 20 carries. Adam Anderson’s 64-yard catch-and-run gave South Dakota State (5-2, 3-2 Missouri Valley) a 7-0 lead 93 seconds in but, on the next play from scrimmage, Illinois State’s Brady Davis hit Andrew Edgar for an 81-yard touchdown. One play after Xavier Ward forced and recovered a fumble, Daniel scored on a 5-yard run that made it 14-7 with 4:39 left in the first half. The Redbirds fumbled again on their next offensive play, setting up a Jacob Brown’s 5-yard TD catch and, after an Illinois State punt, Christion’s 81-yard touchdown pass to Cade Johnson made it 28-7 at halftime. Daniel’s 7-yard scoring run with 3:19 left in the third quarter gave the Jackrabbits, who came in ranked No. 8 in the FCS coaches poll, a 28-point lead. Edgar had nine receptions for 202 yards and two touchdowns — all career highs — for ninth-ranked Illinois State (5-3, 2-3).

Associated Press